Cognitive mapping may be defined as

a process composed of a series of psychological transformations by which an individual acquires, codes, stores, recalls, and decodes information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday spatial environment.

Source: Downs RM, Stea D. Cognitive Maps and Spatial Behavior: Process and Products.
In Downs RM, Stea D. (Eds.) Image and Environments, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago (1973:8-26)

In more general terms, a cognitive map may be defined as "an overall mental image or representation of the space and layout of a setting", which means that the act of cognitive mapping is "the mental structuring process leading to the creation of a cognitive map".

Reference: Wayfinding: People, Signs, and Architecture
Arthur P, Passini R. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson (1992) — Website

An observer experiencing a novel environment will begin to construct a cognitive representation of that environment...

Sources:
• Lynch K. The image of the city. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press (1960)
• Aragones JI, Arredondo JM. Structure of urban cognitive maps.
Journal of Environmental Psychology 1985.(5):197-212

A few examples...	Click an image to enlarge and visit site.
Credit: Sharon E. Sutton Sites of Learning in Tukwila Center for Environment, Education, and Design Studies	Credit: Neil Cohn Cognitive Map of Graphic Signs ¡Eye © græfIk Semiosis! A Cognitive Approach to Graphic Signs and “Writing” (2005)	Credit: © Project Performance (Australia) Pty Ltd.

Cognitive mapping is a neuropsychological process, with both conscious and unconscious aspects. Cognitive maps can be generated with or without conscious intent, and they are not always self-intimating. "Although the cognitive map represents a set of processes of unknown physiological and controversial psychological nature," write Downs and Stea (1980), "its effect and function are clear. We believe that a cognitive maps exists if an individual behaves as if a cognitive map exists."

Cognitive mapping is an umbrella term, encompassing both concept mapping and semantic mapping, and is often referred to as mind mapping, mental mapping, idea mapping, etc. These terms tend to be used interchangeably, depending on personal preference and context.

A Concept map is a type of cognitive map, in this sense, representing

a structured process, focused on a topic or construct of interest, involving input from one or more participants, that produces an interpretable pictorial view (concept map) of their ideas and concepts and how these are interrelated.

Source: www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/conmap.htm

Basically, a concept map is a graphical representation of the structure of knowledge.

In the 1960s, Joseph D. Novak (1993) at Cornell University began to study the concept mapping technique. His work was based on the theories of David Ausubel (1968), who stressed the importance of prior knowledge in being able to learn about new concepts. Novak concluded that "Meaningful learning involves the assimilation of new concepts and propositions into existing cognitive structures." A concept map is a graphical representation where nodes (points or vertices) represent concepts, and links (arcs or lines) represent the relationships between concepts. The concepts, and sometimes the links, are labeled on the concept map. The links between the concepts can be one-way, two-way, or non-directional. The concepts and the links may be categorized, and the concept map may show temporal or causal relationships between concepts. A concept map is a graphical representation where nodes (points or vertices) represent concepts, and links (arcs or lines) represent the relationships between concepts. The concepts, and sometimes the links, are labeled on the concept map. The links between the concepts can be one-way, two-way, or non-directional. The concepts and the links may be categorized, and the concept map may show temporal or causal relationships between concepts.

Source: http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/concept.htm

A few examples...	Click an image to enlarge and visit site.
Credit: Brad Paley Relationships among Scientific Paradigms Information Esthetics, via Visual Think Map	Credit: Meena Kharatmal Cell Structure and Function Okeanos, via Wikipedia	Credit: Philip Topham Key Opinion Leaders for the Insomnia Scientific Research Community (Names Scrambled) - using Social Network Analysis identify top individuals demo2.lnxresearch.com, via Visual Think Map
Using Concept Mapping to Improve Health Care Decision Making Cell structure and function Why a Mental Map is Important for Architects to Understand Family Kayak Trip to Canada A Concept Map-Based Knowledge Modeling Approach to Expert Knowledge Sharing Center for Mars Exploration (CMEX) — Mars Exploration Concept Map Contents CMEX Map of maps: an index of 100+ concept maps Concept Map FOOD Proposition: Without the industrial chemical reduction of atmospheric nitrogen, starvation would be rampant in third world countries

Source: The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them
Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01-2008 Novak JD, Cañas AJ. Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01-2008, Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, 2008.
Emphasis in original.

Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. They include concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some type, and relationships between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking two concepts. Words on the line, referred to as linking words or linking phrases, specify the relationship between the two concepts. We define concept as a perceived regularity in events or objects, or records of events or objects, designated by a label. The label for most concepts is a word, although sometimes we use symbols such as + or %, and sometimes more than one word is used. Propositions are statements about some object or event in the universe, either naturally occurring or constructed. Propositions contain two or more concepts connected using linking words or phrases to form a meaningful statement. Sometimes these are called semantic units, or units of meaning. Figure 1 shows an example of a concept map that describes the structure of concept maps and illustrates the above characteristics.

Figure 1. A concept map showing the key features of concept maps. Concept maps tend to be read progressing from the top downward. Click to enlarge.

Another characteristic of concept maps is that the concepts are represented in a hierarchical fashion with the most inclusive, most general concepts at the top of the map and the more specific, less general concepts arranged hierarchically below. The hierarchical structure for a particular domain of knowledge also depends on the context in which that knowledge is being applied or considered. Therefore, it is best to construct concept maps with reference to some particular question we seek to answer, which we have called a focus question. The concept map may pertain to some situation or event that we are trying to understand through the organization of knowledge in the form of a concept map, thus providing the context for the concept map.

Another important characteristic of concept maps is the inclusion of cross-links. These are relationships or links between concepts in different segments or domains of the concept map. Cross-links help us see how a concept in one domain of knowledge represented on the map is related to a concept in another domain shown on the map. In the creation of new knowledge, cross-links often represent creative leaps on the part of the knowledge producer. There are two features of concept maps that are important in the facilitation of creative thinking: the hierarchical structure that is represented in a good map and the ability to search for and characterize new cross-links.

A final feature that may be added to concept maps is specific examples of events or objects that help to clarify the meaning of a given concept. Normally these are not included in ovals or boxes, since they are specific events or objects and do not represent concepts. [...] [Read More]

The Medicine Wheel as a Concept Map

The framework described above is quite specific, yet concept maps can take many forms. In the following example, utilizing the Medicine Wheel, hierarchical structure depends upon the context and perspective from which one approaches the map.

The Medicine Wheel is a model of all creation, both reality and metaphor, representing all aspects and all facets of life.^1,5,6 Everyone and everything has a place in the natural order of the universe. Each point on the circle represents a different yet equally valid perspective on reality.² There is no uniform version of the Medicine Wheel. The culture and religion of each of the approximately 350 tribal groups was community-based, and it is thought that the development of the individual was emphasized in the context of a greater whole, supporting individual differences and avoiding conflict within the tribe.²

Image Credit: Medicine Wheel sunset photograph by Tom Melham. Stanford SOLAR Center (2008)

Medicine Wheels thus take many different forms, and it is not always clear what the unique meaning or specific use of them might have been. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming⁷ is a good case in point.

In 1974, an archaeoastronomer named Jack Eddy visited this Medicine Wheel and studied its alignments, that is, its arrangements of rocks, cairns, and spokes. He found the arrangements point to the rising and setting places of the Sun at summer solstice, as well as the rising places of Aldebaran in Taurus, Rigel in Orion, and Sirius in Canis Major -- all bright, important stars associated with the Solstice. Later another astronomer, Jack Robinson, found a cairn pair that marked the bright star Fomalhaut's rising point with the Sun 28 days before solstice.³

A given site may have been abandoned by its original creators, then used by others for their own purposes. In many cases, these sites are regarded as places of power.

Aerial view of the Bighorn Medicine Wheel Image Source: unknown. Retrieved from DirtBrothers.org, which credits AllCody.com but image not found. Also at: Atlas Obscura - source unknown.

No one knows the true origin or purpose of the [Bighorn] Medicine Wheel. Prospectors discovered the Medicine Wheel around 1885, however carbon-14 dating done on a piece of wood used in the construction of one of the carins dates back to 1760. Today, scientists and archeologists believe that the Medicine Wheel was created between A.D. 1200 and 1700 by Native Americans.

There are many theories that explain the intended purpose of the Medicine Wheel. Some archeologists believe that the 28 spokes represent the 28 days in a month, and two of the 6 carins mark the horizons of sunrise and sunset, while the remaining four mark the rising of the three brightest stars. Other archeologists claim that the Native Americans who built the Medicine Wheel had no use for an organized calendar because they were not farmers. These archeologists believe instead that the Medicine Wheel carried religious significance and was used in religious ceremonies. Still other archeologists believe that the Medicine Wheel was a place for powerful events to take place and that people visited the sacred site to gain strength and power.

Whatever the Medicine Wheel was originally built for, it has been used as a place of prayer for many Native Americans. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe was known to fast at the Wheel, while Chief Washakie of the Shoshone tribe claimed to have obtained his medicine there.⁴

Regarding the origin and ubiquity of the Medicine Wheel among the Five Nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) of the Iroquois Confederacy, consider the following summary:

Tribes were obsessed with wiping out their "enemies." Then a dramatic shift in perception occurred, and a peace was realized, which lasted for a period of 150 to 200 years. This long truce was the result of a great Iroquois chief, (sounds like Agonawila), later to become Hiawatha, who urged the tribes to cease the madness of brother killing brother, and formed an alliance, which came to be known as the Confederation of Nations. The Confederation recognized that Indian peoples were more alike than different. Even though they spoke different dialects, they had the same basic belief systems and followed similar traditions.

An important part of this transformation was the medicine wheel, which was placed in front of every tepee, and decorated in special symbols, colors, and stones, to let people entering the tribe know about its inhabitants. The wheel was a reflection of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses, and it gave people guidelines to follow for personal growth. It told people what they needed to learn and what they needed to teach. Everyone was ordered to work on themselves, or else leave the tribe. After several generations of this work, people lost the concept of blame and anger. This, in turn, resulted in the longest peace in modern history.⁸

As Jacqueline Ottmann (2005) writes:

Most First Nations people believe that all of creation, seen and unseen, is interconnected. Essentially, all things are seen as related, and there is a personal connection and relationship to all things. Because things are connected and interconnected there is significance to everything large and small. Chief Seattle (as cited in Jeffers, 1991) said, “This we know: All things are connected like the blood that unites us. We did not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves” (p. 20). Consequently, harmony is continually sought and all of creation is valued and essentially revered because of the inextricable interconnectedness of our universe. There is a belief that even the slightest event, action, or thought may have tremendous repercussions. [...]⁹

With these contextual notes in mind, here's a closer look at a Medicine Wheel as a concept map.

The above illustration is my adaptation of the Ojibway Medicine Wheel presented by The Rouge Valley Foundation (1997). Additional descriptors have been added from several of the following sources: Image Credit: Mark Dodich For source info, see Animal Medicine Energy Medicine Wheel First Nations Legacy on the Rouge, Rouge Valley Foundation, Program Committee and students of Joseph Howe Senior Public School in Scarborough Ontario. (1997) A Medicine Wheel is made of stones. There were about 20,000 medicine wheels in North America, before the Europeans came. Medicine wheels are places for energy and healing, teaching and understanding. They are used for times of reflecting on life, and for joyous celebrations. The Medicine Wheel represents all of creation. all races of people, animals, birds, fish, insects, trees,and stones, the sun, moon and earth are in the circle of the medicine wheel. Each stone tells part of the story. The circle is all of the cycles of nature, day and night, seasons, moons, life cycles, and orbits of the moon and planets. Learning Styles and Lessons from the Medicine Wheel: A Native American Philosophy, a Proposed Integrated Model Murk PJ, et al. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (Nashville, TN, November 2-5, 1994). ERIC Digest ED378387 The Medicine Wheel is a Native American legend in which a circle contains countless points each of which represents a different, yet valid, perspective on the nature of reality. According to the Medicine Wheel legend, the north offers the gift of wisdom, the east offers illumination, the south offers innocence, and the west offers introspection. In the Medicine Wheel legend, the various learning styles and types of intelligence are valued equally. The Medicine Wheel metaphor suggests several possibilities for linking individual learning styles, modifying teaching and training practices, and creating different ways of interpreting adult learning. [...] Bighorn Medicine Wheel Stanford SOLAR Center (2008) The Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming Mystery and intrigue surrounds the famous Medicine Wheel of Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains. AllCody.com Introductory Medicine Wheel: Cree-Ojibway Customs University of Saskatchewan (Undated) Archaeology: Frequently-Asked Questions — What is a Medicine Wheel? Royal Alberta Museum: Collections and Research: Archaeology: FAQ Bighorn Medicine Wheel Native American circle of stones used to predict astronomical events. Atlas Obscura The Medicine Wheel Native Americans Online (2002) First Nations Leadership Development within a Saskatchewan Context Ottmann J. PhD dissertation, Department of Educational Administration, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. (2005:70-1) fn. Jeffers, S. (1991). Brother Eagle, Sister Sky. New York: Dial Books. Visual Metaphor, Cultural Knowledge, and the New Rhetoric St. Clair RN. Chapter 8 (pp. 85-101) of Learn in Beauty: Indigenous Education for a New Century edited by Jon Reyhner, Joseph Martin, Louise Lockard, and W. Sakiestewa Gilbert. Copyright © 2000 by Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona. Animal Medicine Wheel Dodich M. ASTROMARK - Personal Astrological Services. And see: Animal Medicine Energy Sun Bear Medicine Wheel Spaltenstein U. The Esoteric Blog: Ursi's Eso Garden (10.07.06) Anishnaabek (Ojibwe) interpretation of the medicine wheel AAA Native Arts. Sun Bear Medicine Wheel Diagram Star Spider Dancing.

Semantic Maps

Semantic maps are graphic representations that show how key words or concepts are related to one another. Semantic Mapping, another type of cognitive mapping, is sometimes also called mind mapping, idea mapping, word webbing, etc., and describes the process of applying various strategies to devise, generate and utilize these graphic representations.

Semantic mapping is a strategy for graphically representing concepts. Semantic maps portray the schematic relations that compose a concept. It assumes that there are multiple relations between a concept and the knowledge that is associated with the concept. Thus, for any concept there are at least these three types of associations:

1. associations of class -- the order of things the concept falls into;
2. associations of property -- the attributes that define the concept; and
3. associations of example -- exemplars of the concept.

Source: Strategies for Reading to Learn: Semantic Maps
Estes TH. University of Virginia (1999)

Search for images of semantic maps...

   

Which Way Is Up?

Wayfinding in the real world is based on a mental map or mental representation of geometric features such as directions and distances between places. Decision-making is contingent upon one's epistemology of the world, so it also involves semantic relations between concepts with varying reliance on geometric features. Perspectives vary, influenced by a range of factors peculiar to the individual.

Our physical maps of the world almost always place North at top, but this is a matter of convention and is by no means the only way to represent the reality. Indeed, it may create a cognitive dissonance. If I'm living in Australia, shouldn't the top of the world be South? Though I grew up on a farm some eight miles north of a small town, I "knew" the farm was situated to the south. To this day, almost 40 years since I left, the old homestead still seems south in my mind's eye. That's just "where it is", in my mental map.

Image Credit: What´s Up? South! Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. Available from Wide World of Maps and ODT Maps, Inc. During the past 500 years, the majority of map publishers were located in Europe and North America. By publishing North-oriented maps, they emphasized the geography of their own two continents, placing the others on the periphery. Such a secondary cartographic position also suggests that these continents were not as important economically or culturally. [...] http://maps.bpl.org/id/M8754/ The implications of any projection are enormous. Images we see shape our perceptions of the world. It's enriching to see a variety of points-of-view. Have you ever seen a map with Australia on top? The Upside-Down world map comes in a variety of projections, but reverses the poles. Whoever said that North must be "up"? Maps are based on a variety of assumptions, most of which are subliminal and below our threshold of consciousness. [...] DIVERSOPHY.COM

• References
• Topologic and Metric Decision Criteria for Wayfinding in the Real World and the WWW
• A Semantic Map as Basis for the Decision Process in the www Navigation
• Instructional Philosophy and Strategies
• Cognitive Dissonance
• The Upside-Down Map Page
• History of the McArthur Universal Corrective Map — Video clip.
• On maps, why is north always up?
• Cardinal direction — Wikipedia
  
  North (N) does not have to be at the top. Portable GPS-based navigation computers can be set to display maps either conventionally (N always up, E always right) or with the current instantaneous direction of travel, called the heading, always up (and whatever direction is +90º from that to the right).
  
  The direction of travel required to reach the intended destination is called the bearing. Since the real world presents numerous obstacles, one must adjust his or her heading accordingly. Upon moving forward, the bearing will change so that it always points at the destination, thereby giving clues as to which way one should turn. When you are traveling, it can be easier to figure out where your next turn is, and whether to turn left or right, when the direction of travel is always up. [...]

Map #1 is a representation of nine intrapsychic principals in relation to the "I" (egoic center) in the Gestalt of personality. The numbered nodes are colored as I apprehend each particular node. Numbers are also correlated with the Enneagram personality types or life scripts.

Map #2 is a representation of cognitive functions in this Gestalt.

Map #3 is a representation of Map #2 as an intrapsychically visualized two-dimensional plane, a coronal section. I can "see" the map, and when I "inhabit" the center, as "I" look to the nine principals, each is apprehended as a fuzzy three-dimensional sphere. Each sphere has awareness, a unique identity, and "I" communicate with each in different ways, verbal and non-verbal.

Image Credit: Head outline adapted from the original presented by Martin Simunek, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Czech Technical University, Prague. See Visualization of talking human head, Figure 4.

Map #4 represents the Gestalt of all nine principals and the "I" (central sphere), acting in unity through the relational self (upper sphere).

These maps represent an inner landscape of continuously evolving factors. The representations are static, but the factors so portrayed are not.

Additional interpretations...
In Art at the Event Horizon (2006), new media artist Avi Rosen^1,2,3 uses my second map (Map #2) to illustrate human cognition as a black hole. Translated from the original Hebrew by Sonia Dantziger, Rosen writes:

It is possible to compare areas of the brain to micro-black holes, or centres in cyberspace where Bose-Einstein processes take place. The wrapping of the body, including the senses, serves as an event horizon, and the singularity as the soul or consciousness. The topology of consciousness resembles a torus, allowing circular movement from place to place in consciousness, and also making jumps in space-time, similar to networks in cyberspace and black holes in space.

The associative cortex role is to establish new nets, and omni connection of neurons in the brain. This act is similar to the Internet build-up. “The brain has no knowledge in it, until the neuron interconnection is built. Our identity is based on how our neurons are interconnected” (Restak, 2001h 26). [...]

Figure 1. Einstein-Rosen bridge, from: Kaku 1994, 253. Avi Rosen, Art at the Event Horizon (2006).

Abstract
This article compares real space, mental space, and virtual electronic space that connect them. The claim is that the three topological spaces are similar to a torus. Concentrations of mass in each of the three spaces create areas that bend distance and time, like the phenomenon of a black hole. Cyberspace is the electronic unifier of the three spaces, and enlarges the event horizon (the boundary of the black hole) of human consciousness. The topology falling within the boundaries of the event horizon is a non-Euclidean geometric distortion in the style of Riemann, and Einstein’s general theory of relativity. A new examination of these phenomena using technical tools, leads to a different view of concepts, mainly post-modernistic, such as: simulacra, schizophrenia, hyper-reality, hyper-space, hyper-spectral sound and image, that today dominate the real world view, and the definition of cyberspace and human consciousness, and art. Cyberspace is the extension of the human brain that creates integrated consciousness.

Cognitive maps enable interpretational multiplexing. While quite beyond the highly internalized objective of my original map, which was intended as an exploration of personal identity in a gestalt of inner voices, Rosen's work stimulated new questions and insights. Looking from without, looking from within, looking to a destination...